When a new Magic set comes out I don't usually feel hyped about it or anything, on the contrary I don't usually like the idea of a new set. This time around though I participated in awesome prerelease tournaments and probably played in one of the best type two tournaments in the past few years. What was so special about it?
For the prerelease tournaments WotC came with seeded packs and promo cards. This time there was one of 8 different promo cards per clan in the seeded pack unlike before where each player of certain color had the very same promo card which was REALLY annoying. I was pretty angry even with this but later I realized that this actually helped quite a lot...at least I wouldn't face the very same card over and over again.
LimitedMy pre-registered clan was Sultai but after seeing the spoiler during the night I asked if I can play something else and I was allowed that (Thanks!). So I picked Temur instead because red simply had awesome cards. Building deck seemed quite the puzzle...I was staring at my pool and couldn't really see what I should play. There was nothing that could be considered a curve. 2/2 creature producing a 4/4 bear seemed auto-include and 5/5 Trampler seemed fine as well. But what to do earlier in the game (with six drops I had NO problems^^)? I was looking at my morph creatures and wasn't really decided on what is the best creature to play. My pool had 0 creatures for three mana and about 4 that cost 2 (that had power at least 1). In the end I included another 5/5 (Pine Walker), three Sagu Archers, Ainok Tracker, Temur Charger and Abomination of Gudul. I had 8 morph creatures in total and I was wondering if playing Trail of Mystery will actually do something. I put it in the deck with the thought that this might actually find me some lands I would need but in the end it never fetched me a land but managed to kill few creatures and deal more damage. I added some burn spells 2x Bring Low and Arrow Storm (with Lava Axe in mind). I hoped to survive early game and then beat my opponent with 4/4s and 5/5s.
In round one my opponent played one single card - High Sentinels of Arashi Promo. I stared at it for a while and had in mind that I have two draws to deal with it. In those turns I did not draw anything relevant and horribly died. Game two started in similar fashion but I managed to Bring it Low. Something else totally killed me though. I did not feel that well after the first match and wasn't sure of what my deck can do. But in the end the deck showed me that it can do 4:1 pretty easily and if I would have a better draw I could deal with that goddamn white flyer as well^_~. I just wasn't ready for something like this just yet^_~. Thanks do the fact that I lost pretty quickly I had the chance to look around and see what others play. I saw few entire decks and realized that 'hey those decks actually look like a solid decks..'. This did not really cheer me up either. My deck seemed like a pile of crap without any good rare card or bomb (or removal).
During the tournament I changed my opinion though and I started calling my pile of crap 'a deck'. I realized that those 3 Sagu Archers that I put there primarily against UWR Tempo were actually a good choice. Without this card I can't imagine what I would be doing. Majority of the decks I played against were Mardu aggressive decks. I also started to like my morph creatures. They were the key for winning with my deck. Morph mechanic is really cool in KtK and the creatures are quite strong. The last time I played with it (morph) it did not really seem any good (actually the win con was usually morph but it felt completely different) or fun (Onslaught block).
After the first tournament in which I managed to get some prizes I decided to participate in the second prerelease as well. This time I could choose between Sultai or Jeskai. I went with my previously registered clan.
I opened some strong Temur cards so in the end I ended up splashing red (quite heavily *grin*). This time around I did not have many morph creatures but I had quite some flyers and I hoped that these would be enough to finish some people off. I knew that what I put together would be slow and was wondering if I should actually incorporate some delve cards in my deck. 4/4 Trampler and 3/3 Flyer with delve seemed auto-include but would I be able to play it for less than six when the count of my lower cmc cards was almost zero? In the end I decided to cut some 6 cmc cards and add random 2/2s and 2/1s to keep me alive till I get to those higher cmc cards. In the end though I realized that my deck is actually faster than the Temur one and is way more aggressive (I considered this pool worse than the first one). With this in mind I tweaked it a bit after terrible loss in round 1 and went 4:1 with it.
During the night I wanted to try something different so I played Mardu. I tried to build a Boros deck with black splash for Mardu Ascendancy, Murderous Cut and Mardu Charm. The deck did not really have many outlast ability creatures nor the token generating morph creature but it was capable of winning. But it felt like a deck from a completely different world and I wasn't really satisfied with it. But I learned the power of Goblins!
On Sunday thanks to Ondra Straka I participated in yet another two prerelease events. They were fun as well. I played Abzan in the first one and Sultai in the second one even though the deck that seemed better from the Sultai pool was Boros with blue splash.
All these tournaments were lots of fun, many things happened during the games and it was fun trying to figure out what to play and what not. I also learned the power of some rares and mythics and couldn't believe my eyes. Also when I played Sidisi in the last prerelease I wanted to build EDH around her. I usually played her on t4 or 5 but managed to mill 3 lands. With the first attack I usually milled another three^_^. This way I did not really get anywhere but at least I won few games (2:3). I realized that there are many cards in this set that I actually like and decided that I'd like to incorporate them in constructed somehow...but where? I decided to go for EDH but then another idea sparkled in my head. I'd love to build a Sultai control/midrange with Empty the Pits for example....but I don't have the cards for the deck I guess??
This weekend there are release events in local game stores. Usually it's draft, type2 and sealed deck. I decided to participate in at least the type 2 event. But for that...one needs a deck. I did not have one but I decided to build one. What choices I had? I already sold majority of my KtK cards and I don't have the good cards already...
ConstructedFor a while I was trying to figure out what to play and what I can actually play. My pool of cards could handle mono black aggro, mono green whatever and naya/jund based deck. The latter might not actually work that well. I was thinking about playing some kind of RG Elspeth..but considering the fetchlands and considering the cards from KtK I decided to go for Abzan. I already spend some time thinking about Abzan Midrange or Sultai Midrange decks but at that time I did not expect to attend any type 2 event. When being at Cerny Rytir yesterday I talked to few people about type 2 and I was scouting about what they would play. I did not get many answers and those I got were usually in the sense of 'are you crazy? this weekend there are SCG events, just wait and see what the players will play there'. That's not the first time I heard this and personally I take this as an insult. I mean come on people, you can build your own deck. It does not need to be perfect or anything but figuring out what might be good gives a huge advantage in the upcoming tournaments. After this I also did not expect many players to come...because majority of the people told me that they won't go anywhere till they see what was played at todays and tomorrows SCG events. (no idea what or where..but that's me being ignorant...I just don't care)
The base for my deck should be my Jund Walkers deck. That is... I used Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix. I thought about it for a while and was wondering if mono green is viable. Caryatid - check, Courser of Kruphix - check, Polukranos - check, Genesis Hydra - check, Chord of Calling - check, Hornet Queen - check... but well screw it, I'm not going to play mono green. So I was wondering what colors should go with green the best. When thinking about Polukranos I realized that I still don't like the card. The main reason I did not want to play mono green (putting aside the fact I don't like mono colored decks no matter what) The card was sometimes insane in THS block, but now? Isn't there a better four drop? Yes, there is - Siege Rhino. When this creature comes into play it gains you three life and lets opponent lose three life. That is what caught my eye. 4/5 is secondary, Trample as well. So what else to play with it? Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix for sure. What else? The deck needs at least one more creature. I couldn't come up with one. Fleecemane Lion wouldn't do, Rakshasa Deathdealer wouldn't do as well..those cards are good for a different deck, not the one I envisioned (so I put those cards on a new pile of cards - the only other card there was Mana Confluence and Windswept Heath). I couldn't come up with anything so I continued in deck building. Rabble red is/was played a lot and mono black aggro seemed as choice number one for me so I started looking for some copies of Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow because those would be crucial in what I expected to play against. I had some somewhere but I wasn't sure where so I started searching some boxes full of cards. When looking for these two cards I found Reaper of the Wilds I got from Tony some time ago. I stared at the card for a while... then for a while longer. I was like Deathtouch? Hexproof? Filters lands? 4/5 body for 4? That's good isn't it? I took the card out of the crap cards alongside it put it into a perfect size sleeve and put in on the 'main deck' pile of cards laying next to the other pile with Lions and such.
So I had the creatures with which I could win. I had removal that seemed good Drown in Sorrow and Hero's Downfall and one lonely Bile Blight. The card that I expected to be strong is Elspeth, the Sun's Champion so I put that in and also sleeved a set of Abzan Charms. Night's Whisper effect, two counters or removal? Sweet. Or at least it looked sweet when I was putting it in my deck. During the tournament I realized that this card might not be the best thing against some decks^_~.
There were still 7 slots available in the deck. What to put in? One of the cards in the Jund deck I wanted back were Thoughtseizes. This gives information about other player's decks, wrecks their plan or gets me rid of a card I did not prepare for. I knew that this card might pretty well mess my own plans by choosing a wrong card but still thoughtseize is very powerful and found it's place in the 60. The last three slots were filled in with Arbor Colossus because I thought another Elspeth is a bad idea (but I changed my mind) and Utter End - a card I completely forgot about. When looking for Sandsteppe Citadel I came across it and I was like 'oh, why don't I play it?'.
After I had two different piles in front of me I started wondering what might be better. One pile was an aggro deck but I wasn't sure how I can play a 3 colored aggro deck without fetchlands and dual lands. After seeing BW super greedy deck work I guess this deck would work as well. But I couldn't decide what color would be in minority and what cards I'd rather play. Be it more Fleecemane Lion -> Brimaz -> Rhino or Bloodsoaked Champion -> Rakshasa -> Herald of Torment -> Rhino. The second line of thought seemed completely off. Mono Black works well on its own and the green is unnecessary. White might be nice addition but well...with the new cards I have the feeling that 'being a bit slower to incorporate cards like Rakshasa Deathdealer' won't be any good.
So in the end I just decided to play the cards I chose at first and fill the rest of the deck with removal against mono black and red decks. For midrange decks and controls I decided to pack Garruk, Apex Predator and Liliana Vess alongside with one more Utter End. I added Drown in Sorrow, Bile Blight, Nyx Fleece Rams, Murderous Cut and Despise for more aggressive decks. I put Despise there because it is cheap and can get me rid of creature which was my primary concern (get rid of creatures early game) but on the other hand...cards like Stoke the Flames are game over for me. I might cut this card altogether. The card I was missing in my 75 today was Enchantment removal. Next time I'll play some Deicides as well.
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Junk
by STsung
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In round one I played against mirror more or less. I expected to see more cards in one or two copies so I tried to expect weird cards. Game one seemed like a real mirror though. We both had Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix in play so we could see each other drawn cards. They were usually the same. I put all my remaining Coursers on the bottom in hope of drawing a Abzan Charm or Elspeth. We both had Sylvan Caryatid, Utter End and Drown in Sorrow in hand. When trying to draw something each of us drew a bigger creature that hit the table and immediately left it. In this game I realized that my lone Reaper of the Wilds might be actually what wins the game. But still I was waiting for Elspeth not really wanting to play two copies of Drown in Sorrow in one single turn to get rid of 4 opposing Coursers and 4 Sylvan Caryatids. Just to deal with Siege Rhino that would hit the table next turn. In the end it was my opponent's Elspeth that forced me to act finally. I played my two cards named Drown in Sorrow and got rid of everything except my Reaper of the Wild. I forgot about the everpresent Courser not being on the table anymore and still showed my opponent the following card. That was quite a wake up call. I Utter Ended his Elspeth, he Utter Ended mine but I was left with 3 soldiers and I hoped they would finish the game. In the end I had to help it a bit but I won. We played a second game then we did not finish it. I played Thoughtseize and saw something like Polukranos, Siege Rhino, Anafenza, Courser of Kruphix and Whip of Erebos. At this moment I had no idea what to discard and what might annoy me the most. I knew that Whip of Erebos might eventually kill me but 3 copies of Utter End and other removal that actually removes creatures from the game should solve this problem. I ran also a lot of removal so the creatures shouldn't be a problem? The card I should have discarded was Courser of Kruphix. I should reevaluate the power of this card. I spent some time playing it in Modern and in Standard but it wasn't that good as it proved to be in this deck today...
I played then against two mono black decks and mono red deck. The games weren't that much interesting but I learned that I can have 5 life on turn 3 against mono red and that mono black can kill me nicely with Mogis's Marauder. Drown in Sorrow is crucial and here's also the reason why Siege Rhino is better than Polukranos. Murderous Cut seems to be a pretty solid card and even in my deck I was glad to have it.
Hm that's about it I guess... ? I cannot describe with words how much fun it was. After a long time I felt like playing Magic like in the old times and I also spend some time figuring out what to play. It felt awesome. I did not really care about winning just about seeing what my deck can do or cannot do (and thus I gave chances to my opponents to kill me with the right top deck or cards in hand). Even if I would have lost I would not regret that.
Limited
1 Mardu Charm
3 Ponyback Brigade
1 Ainok Tracker
1 Mardu Warshrieker
1 Leaping Master
1 Swift Kick
1 War Behemoth
1 Alabaster Kirin
1 Trumpet Blast
2 Canyon Lurkers
1 Summit Prowler
1 Mardu Hordechief
1 Abzan Falconer
1 Kill Shot
1 Witness of the Ages
1 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Feat of Resistance
1 Deflecting Palm
1 End Hostilities
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Mystic Monastery
My first pick was End Hostilities and my second pick was Leaping Master (meh). But soon Trumpet Blast came to me so I started picking anything that can hopefully attack or at least sometimes surprise an opponent. I picked all Ponyback Brigades I saw because that seemed as the only way I could win (+Trumpet Blast). Swift Kick was a card I picked out of necessity because I already passed some creatures that would kill me and that's about it. I also got passed some lands that I was grateful for. I thought I'm screwed after pack one...but it all got way better with pack three. By then we knew that Sorin and Polluted Delta would be in the backdraft.
I practically got a bye in the first round because my poor opponent couldn't draw a source of green or any other land. I won just by playing something...In the second round I knew I would be facing Mardu colors as well but with Mardu Ascendancy, burn spells and swifter creatures. I hoped that End Hostilities would win the game for me. I lost the first game after mulling to four but won the second one after waiting for ages, then finally alpha striking and killing everything but one 2/2 goblin (waiting another turn would mean that High Sentinel of Arashi would survive and I couldn't deal with it except for End Hostilities). The next card I drew was End Hostilities ^_~. I top decked better than my opponent and won later on. In the third game I managed to win as well but also had to play End Hostilities (this time on High Sentinels of Arashi alone) and won later.
In the final round I got trampled by a card that places 3/2/1 counters on three creatures(?). But I managed to win the other ones. I tried dealing with 6/6 Lifelink Abzan Guide and 4/4 creature that gave the counters on the Guide. I had a plan but it would take me three turns to get rid of it. I decided to go for it...but on the third turn my opponent decided that one 6/6 is not enough and created another one. So I decided to just alpha strike with my creatures and play End Hostilities. I had three creatures in my hand so I played two of them after and later won. In the deciding game it was Deflecting Palm that won me the game (but if I wouldn't be silly and counted correctly I would have played Trumpet Blast as well in my final attack (as that would deal 12 damage instead of 8 that I counted for some reason...my opponent being at 11 life))
Polluted Delta for me and I could go home (to write this, eat something and eventually work hopefully^^)
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